Alleged Beer Barn robber arrested

September 1, 2014

MARIETTA - A Morgan County man was arrested for allegedly robbing the Beer Barn at 130 North Third St. in Marietta on Friday evening.

Scott Milner, 49, of McConnellsville, remained in the Washington County Jail on Sunday on $200,000 bond, charged with two counts of aggravated robbery for the alleged heist that took place at the Beer Barn around 8:30 p.m. Friday, according to a report from Marietta Police Detective Sgt. Greg Nohe.

The report said two employees at the business told police they were stocking items in a cooler when a white male with his face covered by a black fleece zippered jacket approached. The workers said the man had one hand in a jacket pocket and indicated he had a weapon, then threw a plastic baggie on the ground and told them to fill it.

According to police, one of the clerks was talking on a cellphone at the time and the suspect grabbed the phone from her hand, threw it on the floor and stomped on it. She then took money from the store cash register and put in the bag. The suspect took the bag and walked out of the door.

The man was described as a white male, about 5 ft. 8 inches tall, weighing around 130 lbs. and wearing a green ball cap, black fleece coat zipped up to his neck and wearing blue jeans with a tear in the right rear pocket. A cell phone case was hanging from his pocket.

The suspect fled, heading north, toward the rear of the nearby Sherwin Williams store where the clerks said they lost sight of him.

Dave Mason, owner of the Beer Barn, told Nohe that around $2,000 and a carton of Marlboro cigarettes had been taken from the store.

While investigating the robbery, MPD patrolman Mike Harlow heard a cellphone ringing outside the store and found the device lying in the grass about 75 feet north of the Beer Barn.

Nohe called a number listed on the cellphone and an elderly lady answered and identified the phone as possibly belonging to her son, Scott Milner. She also identified the name of a woman caller listed on the cellphone as Milner's girlfriend.

A call to the girlfriend revealed that Milner was not supposed to be in Marietta at the time of the robbery, and he was to pick her up from her workplace at MIBA Bearings along Ohio 60 in McConnelsville around 11 p.m.

A deputy with the Morgan County Sheriff's Office was notified and began watching the plant to see if Milner might show up there. Nohe also drove to the plant and met the deputy there.

"I observed that the driver (later identified as the defendant) was wearing a green ball cap with white writing and wearing glasses. I also observed in the back seat of the vehicle a black fleece zipper jacket and a carton of Marlboro cigarettes on the right rear floorboard," Nohe said in the police report.

He reported that Milner also had a tear in his pocket and a cellphone case was hanging from his pocket.

While being patted down for weapons, the officers noted a large bulge in one of Milner's pockets.

"When asked what it was the defendant advised that it was money and that he hit poker machines at the Beachcomber in Williamstown," Nohe reported. "I asked the defendant where his cellphone as I noticed it was not in the case attached to his pocket. The defendant advised that it was probably on the passenger side of the car."

Milner was then transported to the Morgan County Sheriff's Office where he denied robbing the Beer Barn and could not explain why his cellphone was found in the grass near the location of the robbery.

Nohe said the cash found in Milner's pocket totaled $2,007.

Milner was arrested and transported to the Washington County Jail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled Wednesday in Marietta Municipal Court.